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Architects, sales personnel, designers, engineers and other white-collar staff employed in the real estate sector have started to feel the pinch of slowdown. Around 8-20% of white-collar jobs have been lost in the last nine months, says a senior official in Credai, as developers defer project launches due to paucity of funds and falling sales.

The next three months, Credai chairman Lalit Kumar Jain says, will be “critical”, because if the situation does not improve, the pain will extend to the larger majority of blue-collar workers hired by the sector.

“The industry used to see 10-12% of new recruitment every year corresponding to the business growth, but this has almost stopped and no new employment is being generated,” Jain told newspersons, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.

Real estate sector directly employs 7 crore people in India, he said. Of this, 7-8% (between 50 lakh and 56 lakh) are in white-collar positions and the remaining are blue-collar workers.

Jain said that the situation is fast turning serious and the sector needs government support in terms of efficient functioning. “Today, real estate is the largest generator of economic activity contributing 6.3% to our GDP. However, in the current environment, we can impact GDP growth only to a limit. If country’s economy has to reach double-digit growth levels again policymakers should take note of the issues that the sector faces. About 40% of developers’ cost will be saved with corruption-free, efficient governance,” he said. Credai will hold a two-day national conclave in New Delhi next week to bring the policymakers, developers and other stakeholders on board to discuss these issues.